The Cremation Of Sam Mcgee Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCBDEFF GGHH IIFF JJKL MMNN IIFF AAONN PPQQ JJRR OOSS TTFF JJUU VVWW XXSS ABCBDFFFThere are strange things done in the midnight sun | A |
By the men who moil for gold | B |
The Arctic trails have their secret tales | C |
That would make your blood run cold | B |
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights | D |
But the queerest they ever did see | E |
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge | F |
I cremated Sam McGee | F |
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Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee where the cotton blooms and blows | G |
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole God only knows | G |
He was always cold but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell | H |
Though he'd often say in his homely way that he'd sooner live in hell | H |
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On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail | I |
Talk of your cold through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail | I |
If our eyes we'd close then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see | F |
It wasn't much fun but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee | F |
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And that very night as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow | J |
And the dogs were fed and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe | J |
He turned to me and Cap says he I'll cash in this trip I guess | K |
And if I do I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request | L |
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Well he seemed so low that I couldn't say no then he says with a sort of moan | M |
It's the cursed cold and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone | M |
Yet 'tain't being dead it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains | N |
So I want you to swear that foul or fair you'll cremate my last remains | N |
- | |
A pal's last need is a thing to heed so I swore I would not fail | I |
And we started on at the streak of dawn but God he looked ghastly pale | I |
He crouched on the sleigh and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee | F |
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee | F |
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There wasn't a breath in that land of death and I hurried horror driven | A |
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid because of a promise given | A |
It was lashed to the sleigh and it seemed to say | O |
You may tax your brawn and brains | N |
But you promised true and it's up to you to cremate those last remains | N |
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Now a promise made is a debt unpaid and the trail has its own stern code | P |
In the days to come though my lips were dumb in my heart how I cursed that load | P |
In the long long night by the lone firelight while the huskies round in a ring | Q |
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows O God how I loathed the thing | Q |
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And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow | J |
And on I went though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low | J |
The trail was bad and I felt half mad but I swore I would not give in | R |
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing and it hearkened with a grin | R |
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Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge and a derelict there lay | O |
It was jammed in the ice but I saw in a trice it was called the Alice May | O |
And I looked at it and I thought a bit and I looked at my frozen chum | S |
Then Here said I with a sudden cry is my cre ma tor eum | S |
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Some planks I tore from the cabin floor and I lit the boiler fire | T |
Some coal I found that was lying around and I heaped the fuel higher | T |
The flames just soared and the furnace roared such a blaze you seldom see | F |
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal and I stuffed in Sam McGee | F |
- | |
Then I made a hike for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so | J |
And the heavens scowled and the huskies howled and the wind began to blow | J |
It was icy cold but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks and I don't know why | U |
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky | U |
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I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear | V |
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near | V |
I was sick with dread but I bravely said I'll just take a peep inside | W |
I guess he's cooked and it's time I looked then the door I opened wide | W |
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And there sat Sam looking cool and calm in the heart of the furnace roar | X |
And he wore a smile you could see a mile and he said Please close that door | X |
It's fine in here but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm | S |
Since I left Plumtree down in Tennessee it's the first time I've been warm | S |
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There are strange things done in the midnight sun | A |
By the men who moil for gold | B |
The Arctic trails have their secret tales | C |
That would make your blood run cold | B |
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights | D |
But the queerest they ever did see | F |
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge | F |
I cremated Sam McGee | F |
Robert Service
(3)
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